Flipside Christian Church

Well again.

Good morning, church. We're happy
that you're here.

We like to.

Here, here at Woodside doing a thing
we call five good minutes if you're new.

This is definitely something that is
unlike what

we usually do on a Sunday morning.

Or if you've only been come in
for a short amount of time.

This is different today.

It's an opportunity.

Where, Where am I
at? Here? You guys, down at the end?

I'm going to be down at the end

where they tell me to go.

Yeah.

We just take an opportunity
and give, the staff here

an opportunity to kind of share with you
what God's been doing in their lives.

A lot of times we're moving
so quick around here.

You may hear a name or a see a face
as it races by you.

On the way,
maybe with the screaming child.

Or, maybe you see an email
coming from somebody and you're like,

I wonder who that is.

Well, this is an opportunity
for you to get to meet us and for us

to get to kind of share with you,
what God's doing in our lives.

So five good minutes.
I've got the timer. You guys.

I almost forgot my timer.

We're going to set a timer
for five minutes.

So we're going to suck the gong.

So we're going to go five minutes.

There's two members of the staff
who aren't here today.

The first is Miranda Roth.

She is our, remote,
first in the age of post Covid.

She is our remote, staff member in Idaho.

Anything you've ever seen
with, media up here?

Things
for the children's program. Program?

Any type of. She is VB and Avi
audio visual.

She is the visual of it.
And she does a fantastic job.

She's got a great eye for design.

And so all the stuff that you see
on a Sunday morning is done by Miranda.

So, if you've got an opportunity
to send her an email thanking her

for everything she does,
that information's on the website.

And, so Pastor Carl,
our senior pastor, is not here today.

They're actually with family down

in Southern California
enjoying some much needed R&R down there.

So should you send him a text, an email,
whatever

saying you've been praying for him.

So thankful for the fact that he decided
to plant a church in the Ranchos

back in 2004, 2005.

Obedient to God's call

on his life,
the fact that he's been through,

some pretty interesting seasons
of ministry here in the ranchos

and doing ministry in Guatemala
and Cuba and Mexico

and most recently, the Ukraine
with the Excel Leadership Network.

Just so thankful for Pastor
Carlos leadership, for,

for organizations
that that are involved in it.

So one of the things about five
good minutes is if you connect with

one of the stories or many of the stories
on a personal level, fantastic.

But ideally, we want you to connect on,
or we hope what you take away

is this idea of a connection
on a transcendent level.

Maybe not one year old single female
like Ali

down there in her last year
or frozen state.

So, you know, it's like,
I don't know how to relate to that,

but a lot of times
somebody can say something,

you're like, man, that makes total sense.

God, that is how God works.

It's very difficult.

You know, God rarely does two things
the same way, but there are patterns

to look so in, hearing
from somebody other than pastor Carl,

hopefully that's kind

of what you take away
is this idea of, of a transcendent,

good God that works, together

for the good of those who love him
and are called according to his purpose.

Amen.

All right.

First up, we have a perfect
example of how things come full circle.

You were involved in Liberty High School
graduate?

I am, yes, and involved in flip side
youth stuff that graduated.

Yeah.

Single female.

Back then you are very much not.

No, no, I was not a single female back
then.

I was still with that guy.

That's true. There.

Married to Sean, her husband.

You have two wonderful
boys, Grayson and William. Yes.

And you guys were with us out of Stone
Creek when we were doing that.

So definitely time in the trenches.

You're a you're a good example
of what we talk about around here a lot,

where you say yes to God on the front end
and then figure out what you said yes to.

Yes. Absolutely.

So all right, you got five minutes away.

Get up.

Because I have a feeling I'm going to cry.

You forgot the tissues.

I'm not.

Because, well, I might pass them down

because you said your sympathetic crier.

So last year,

I had talked about how,

In joy, in peace.

And this year was actually really hard.

But there was so much joy

and peace within it.

There were so many times

that I could have been super upset
or super sad

knowing that God was so good.

Really helped out with that,
because there was

a relationship
that I just had to say, I'm done.

I can't do this anymore.

It's damaging me.

It's damaging my family.

And there was a point where I was like,
I can't do it anymore.

And it's hard when it's a parent.

And so
there was a time where I was battling

it, like,
how much longer do I deal with this?

And this year it came to a point
where I was like, I'm done.

Like, I can't do this for my family.

I can't do this for me.

And it was so good

then that knowing that God was like, it's
okay.

Like, you can let this relationship go.

And so there was that one.

And then my grandpa died
and my grandma had a stroke.

My other grandma is really struggling
with her health,

which is hard
because she's been my best friend for,

but knowing that, like, God is so good

and his timing is just,

something that I held on to, like,

when my grandpa passed,
I was like, you know what?

It's God's timing for him.

He needs him back in heaven.

Like, there we could have been.

It's so sad about it.

But knowing that he was now at rest

and he wasn't hurting anymore, like

there was like
I said, there was just so much peace

in all of my year that I had
that I could have just been a hot mess.

And so

but there were always good, like,
I was able to do stuff that I hadn't done.

And so,

like, Sean
and I used to love going to Disneyland,

and we got to take our kids
for the first time in like six years.

And so we were like, yes, like,

let's go find some magic in the
world with the kids.

And so,

it was just so good.

And my dad is my.

You're good. Oh, good. Okay.

And I was like, oh, no. Okay.

I'll be quick, so you're fine. You go.

I'm like, I'm crying this whole time.

It's fine.

But I'll end on a good note
because I am a very busy person.

There's been a lot of changes
that have happened.

I'm no longer the life like I'm
now the, like, secretary.

So I'm there helping run still create.

I've been helping out here,
which has been an incredible blessing

to do the large events and see the kids
and be able to share God's Word with them

is just an incredible blessing.

And then there's just so many other huge
blessing.

You're like,
we got to celebrate birthdays.

Sean and I celebrated
our ten year anniversary.

We got to do

just the little miracles in everyday life
that God blesses us.

It was an opportunity
to see how good he is.

So now moving into 2025, I pray.

I pray over which word has just like
stuck out to him, to me,

as I'm trying
to kind of lay out this next year.

And the word was,
oh gosh, I wrote it down.

Hold on.

Because I knew I was going to freeze
on this stage because I'm so used

to talking in front of children.

Intentional.

That's it.

Don't do anything for the purpose.

So here I am.

And so,

just being so intentional on what I do,
what I commit myself

to, and just being intentional
with my time, with my relationships.

So. Yes.

And very next year after
I've had so much peace

over so many transitions
to now refocus my time and energy,

and do things with a purpose
and a part of God's plan

to see what every day looks like.

So I'm done now.

Thank you.

Kaylee.

Kaylee, I so appreciate your willingness
to follow God.

You're obedient sometimes.

You know, like walking into a dark room
and just trying to leave with your face.

It can be difficult sometimes,
and I think we're all really thankful for

your obedience to God's call on your life
with the children and otherwise.

Thank you for that.

Next we have near and dear to my heart.

Allie is I have three daughters
and Allie is my middle daughter.

Allie and Iva are probably
the single most important reason

the simple family ended up at flip side
years ago.

Allie was in kindergarten.

Iva was, I think in second grade,
and they came home and they said, dad,

there's a good news club
that means to serve you.

And I said, well, what is that?

They said, it's a church.

I said, hold on.

Is that it is the school in the church.

It's a church that meets at the school.

I said, okay, well, yeah,
you can go. Sure.

It's God's stuff. So
we were still making the drive into town.

We had just moved out to the ranches.

We were still making the drive into town,
and these two little girls

decided to start
going to the Good News Club this year.

And so we started asking about it.

So what's up with this church? Well,
they meet at the high school.

I said again,
is it a school or is it a church?

So they're a church
that meets at the high school.

I said, all right,
we got to go check this out.

So some time in 2008, 2009,

we went to this church called flipside
that met at Liberty High School.

Every week.

They set it up. They tore it down.

It was nuts.

If you are part of those, if you were part
of that back in the day, you know what?

How chaotic that was.

It was like what we did, at Christmas Eve,
only on steroids and every week.

And so Allie and Eve
are the reason we started coming.

And Allie got plugged in
as she moved up the, into

her grades.

Got involved in the area 56,
one of the first iterations

of area 56 and then into the junior
high program high school.

And now things have come full circle,
and she's helping with our youth.

I don't she
she likes the junior high students.

I used to like junior high
because we lit stuff on fire and stuff up.

Now we like for reasons.

It's like these chatty little girls.

How do you.

So anyway, Allie Stemple, she is a part
of our worship and our youth leader.

Yes. Okay.

Yeah.

I feel like I know a lot of you
and a lot of you know me,

but we've never really talked.

We just look at each other's faces
every Sunday when I'm up here.

Do super
excited to be part of five good minutes.

I've come through watching it every year
and now like, to speak

other is kind of cool.

So yeah, I grew up in the youth program.

My me and my friends,
we were here in junior high every Monday

night, high school every Wednesday night.

And yeah, I'm just super

one. The parents that I have and two,

just the relationship
and the church family that I have.

And so when I was thinking about
let's talk about in like what

I learned this year and how this year,
what effect it had on me,

I was praying about it and two words

just kept coming to my mind
their growth and opportunity.

And so I think that

and I was trying to phrase it in my head
before I got up here, the chance

to grow through the opportunities
that God has given me this year.

2024 was just a really good year.

Honestly.

Like, obviously there's some ups
and downs, which I'll talk about, but

beginning of the year I turned 21.

Middle of the year,
my older sister got married.

I got to be her maid of honor.

That's just

every time I look back on that day, I'm
so super thankful for the both of them.

And just that whole experience,

started in my last year
and there's just a lot.

Every time I found myself
praying this year,

I found myself just like thanking God
for all of the opportunities

and all the blessings
that he's blessed me with.

It was my second year living
not in my parent's

house, in an apartment, by myself.

Yeah.

Every prayer
I would just start out thanking God.

And a lot of the times it was like

in disbelief of

how good he is and how, like,

faithful
and how much he's blessed me with,

and so

a big thing that I was thinking about

today was this past summer,

I had the privilege of leading the youth
program, the junior high and high school,

which my dad and Pastor Carl came to me in

like March or April this year,
and they were like,

hey, what do you think about
leading the summer youth program?

I was like, why not? Let's do it.

I love going through that youth program,
and I love summer.

So that was a lot of fun.

It was a lot of work,
and it was a lot of unexpected,

things just the whole summer.

But it was really good.

And I feel really lucky to

be able
to have done that because, like you said,

kids was the main thing that,

it was just so good to pour into that
and then to see the fruit of that

where I would, like, see them out
somewhere else, and they say hi to me

and then

I also want to be a teacher, for that age.

And so I feel like I say
a lot of the times that when

these junior high,
they look at me crazy and are like,

why would you ever want to do that?

I don't know.

I feel like it's a very misunderstood age
and they just need some guidance. And.

Oh, and so, just in leadership
through that portion of their lives.

And so thinking about that,

like aspect, one verse came to my mind

and it was, it was actually a verse
we talked about in our flip journals.

If you are in the youth
or you've heard of that,

we did our flip journals
this past year, and it's Matthew 2028,

and it says, for even
the Son of Man came not to be served,

but to serve others
and give his life as a ransom for many,

like growing up in the church,
like serving on a Sunday or on a Wednesday

or on a Monday became something
that was just like, oh, I'll just do it.

Like that's part of my routine.

But we're called to serve and we're called
to like, get something out of that.

Like it's good for us
to pour into God and his people.

So I think this year it was really good.

It turned back into
not because for a while there,

which sounds bad, but it kind of felt
like a chore for a little bit.

But I think this year
I was able to renew, like my energy

and my motivation in the spirit to serve.

And then there was a answered prayer.

This year, I feel like when I started
my, time at Fresno State,

there was a lot of like uncertainty
and loneliness, almost because,

I don't know, I'm a very social person,

but high school
and college are very different.

High school, I had a huge group of friends
that same since kindergarten

get to college
and it's not like that at all.

But this year I was really blessed

to meet two girls that are they're going
through the same program as me.

Were all three
English majors wanting to teach?

And so I was able to get
really close to them, and that was really

good because they were.

I'll finish up, I promise.

They were just really good
to have in my life.

And so,

same thing when I was thinking, God,
for all the opportunities

and all the blessings, I found myself
thanking him for all the people

that I've been surrounded with.

That just had a really good effect on me.

And so going into,

2025,

which is the year
I'm going to graduate college, hopefully,

and start my job,

I'm really just ending this year, super
thankful.

And I feel like this
year was a year of building good habits.

Like I was able

more in the word and have that desire
to, like, know the Lord more and know

like want to be just walking with him

and like lining up my life
to where it's supposed to be.

And so I feel like going into 2025,
I have a lot of I'm equipped

with a lot of good habits,
and my community is just really good.

So yeah, I feel like that was really like
scattered, but just good.

That's
what I learned this year. Thanks Ali.

Never met a

microphone she didn't like Ali
I'm really thankful.

You you you are a good example
of how you parents of young kids

whose of the littleness it can seem like.

Oh dear Lord,

I spent Ali and Eve are 16 months apart

and so, I mean diapers at the same time,
bottles at the same time.

And I thought,
we are never going to be out of this.

And then to see your kids not just grow up
to grow up serving and loving God

and the imperfections of what it.

Ali, I'm really thankful
for you and your sisters.

I'm going to ask a favor of you too,
because I always do.

I remember that at youth group
job opportunity.

Can you get my Bible?

If I walk in front of this speaker,
it's going to feed back.

Thank you.

While she does that, Tricia Cheshire,

you are part of the, transplants
that happened during Covid.

You and her family showed up one Sunday.

I'm assuming during we were we
I don't know that we ever completely

thank you.

And Heather, I don't know that
we ever completely closed down for Covid.

Don't tell anybody.

But, one Sunday, her six foot four,

six foot three husband came in and blocked
the camera.

Well, he was a

lens, guys blocking the camera.

And then, the Cheshire's were part
of flip side, and you guys never left. So.

Tricia, huddle coordinator, take it away.

Yeah.

This is my third year being a part of.

Well, going into
this is my third good minute, right?

Yeah. Five minutes.

And this year, reflecting,

I felt like for me,
there was a lot of change and growth.

When I was thinking back
over the last year,

we were driving last weekend to a wedding
and asking my family

what is something that stuck out?

And the kids said, home like.

That was my, like, highlight of 2024.

Two is going to come like
with our youth group last year.

And so I pulled out my notes
of what we talked about last year,

and it was three ways
to walk in obedience with Christ.

And I started

reflecting on that the last week.

I followed through with that,
and there was a lot of change

where I had to literally tell God,
I need a change.

Open a door, close the door.
I'm listening.

And I'm stubborn.

So choosing to just fully 100%

give my life decisions to God

where I knew I was not in
control was liberating.

And dang,

I think it brought out a new side of me

that I didn't know.

The pastor at Hume, the Bible verse was

the number of days

that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Psalm 9012

and in the notes that they talked about
was spent time

in God's Word,
being with God's people and God's mission.

And I thought that this is all
from January of last year.

And I reflected on those three

did it

the notes I took from him,
I reflected on just this last week

spend time in God's Word.

I've definitely this year
I grew in that, just really focusing.

I think the, flip journal that we do in
youth group has really helped with that.

So spending time in God's Word,
God's people,

I started to become our flip side

huddle coordinator because I really wanted
a women's ministry.

I really wanted small groups
at this church.

I had tons of friends, always ask me,
we need small groups.

And that was on my heart.

I really wanted to build community,
I wanted friendships, and I did it.

We now have a women of a couple different
family huddles.

We have a men's ministry.

Carl's doing his and it's been so great
to be intentional with these huddles

and being building relationships
with you guys here at

church has meant a lot to me, where I'm
not just here working and leaving.

I'm actually learning names
and getting to know you.

Brings me joy

and fulfills me that I didn't know
I needed.

And then the third one is God's mission.

And the last couple years
I've stepped out of my comfort zone,

and I'm a youth leader
and help out with our youth group.

And that by far

is the best joy.

We have amazing students here,

and I couldn't do without Michael
and Jeff and Carl and Heather and

watching our youth
go through today's world.

As a mom,

we need more

people praying and being alive

and being intentional with the youth.

That's where I feel like God's

calling me for like the good 2025. What?

I need something more for that.

And I don't know
what the word is for me yet.

I don't know what it's going to do.

I'm listening to God. I,

I'm not gonna take a job.

But I

but I want to learn more of

how to be a better leader for the youth

and being more intentional
with my Bible time. And,

I have my own

still being, like,
a lot of the youth here, their second mom

sometimes that has filled my heart
so much.

I would say this last year.

And that leads me to being just grateful.

Gratitude, I think, was my word of how

thankful I am

here, like our huddles and our youth group

and then my church family.

It's made me who I am, the new me,
I would say.

Yeah, yeah, I think that's it.

Thanks, Tricia.

Tricia, I'm so thankful for you having.

And I started to see it when you started
serving in youth and the kids,

how you relate to the kids.
It's a special gift.

And I don't want to, like, put labels up,

but it's almost something
that can't be taught.

You just develop it and you're doing
a great job developing it.

Your ability to connect,
especially with kids who

a lot of times are going through things
that not even they understand,

not try to fix them, but to just walk
with them through it has been fantastic.

I'm so thankful for you
and your involvement in that program.

It's been great.

Michael Rondon speaking of

which, you are a literal
and figurative answer to prayer.

Me and Carl, man, we were.

You want to talk about running on fumes?

I think I walked into the office

and I had, hamburger grease all over me.

We had just done a youth group,
and I'm like,

if this guy doesn't work out,
I'm out of here. I'm.

This is crazy.

Me and Carl
tag team in the youth in the summer.

Help and Ali and man,
we were so thankful for you.

We went and had lunch
and you get plugged in.

Emily is involved and I'm just really
thankful for you doing a fantastic job.

If your kid is in the youth program
and you have not met Michael,

definitely reach out to Michael
and get to know him.

He's a great guy.
So all right, five minutes.

All right.

I'm I'm in trouble here
because I told myself this morning

that I that's, so I'm going to very much

cut out some things, but,

2024 was a good year.

It was a really good year for highs
and lows and ups and downs, but,

my wife and I celebrated ten years
together.

Married?

We found a new church community

and opportunity to serve and walk
alongside, you know, junior high and high.

And then we found out having another boy.

And so it's been a pretty sweet year.

Lots of fun, lots of joy.

And as I was reflecting
and I was processing and thinking,

about 20, 24, three words came to mind.

The first one was pace
that I like to run at a really fast pace.

I like

on the ladder, and I like to click
and scratch and scratch like,

I want to go and go and go
and prove my worth and and just, like,

do everything that I possibly can.

And I just found myself
running at an unsustainable pace.

And I can't do that as I'm getting older.

And so pace has been something
where I want to slow

down, not be ahead of God.

He it helps.

It help me to not be as impulsive,
be a little more mature in my decisions.

And so pace came to mind.

The second was Thanksgiving
or thankfulness that,

of course, it's easy
to thank God for the big things,

but I'm trying to thank God
just for the everyday little things.

You know that my boys will.

That I got to work out today or play
soccer or just the silliest of things.

But but

the things that we just take

for granted and we really do care about,
but sometimes we forget about.

And so I think, pace,
I've tried to slow down.

I've tried to be as thankful as possible

in the, in the word that has defined

2024 is availability.

This summer

I finished up teaching my teaching year,

and I was praying one night and I said,
God, like, I want to serve youth again.

How does that look like?
How can I do this on my campus?

Or is it a is it a local youth group?

And 12 hours later, I got an email
from Pastor Carl saying, hey,

we have a youth opening.

And so it was a really random
whirlwind of a experience

opportunity, and it was exciting
and a little bit scary.

But being available is kind of

where my heart has been
and where I want my heart to be in 2025.

And so I want to just read over

the scripture that it's been
I've been coming back to life,

and it's actually what I shared.

I met our youth, Heather, in church,
actually, the maybe late

July at a at a food bank,
like a service day for junior high.

And then I came back a couple weeks later.

We were at the temples
and we had a pool party in of the year.

And I was able to lead and I spoke this.

It was Matt, it's Mark's,
chapter four verses you want.

I just want to read it,
and just process it for a minute with you.

And it says that day when evening came,
Jesus said

to his disciples,
let's go over to the other side.

Leaving the crowd behind.

They took him along
just as he was in a boat.

So Jesus is on a boat
looking at the shore, teaching, right?

And he said, let's go to the other side.

The furious squall came up

and the waves broke over the boat
so that it was nearly swamped.

Jesus was in the stern,
sleeping on a cushion.

The disciples woke him and said to him,
teacher, don't you care if we drown?

And he got up.

He rebuked the wind and said of the waves,
quiet, be still.

And then the wind died down,
and it was completely calm.

He said, why are you so afraid?

Do you still have no faith?

Verse 41 says, they were terrified
and they asked each other, who is this?

That even the winds and the waves
obey him?

I think there's a lot
we can pull from this little text,

but the first thing is,
obviously we see Jesus's

authority, the wind and the waves.

We can't see in the waves
that always crash.

They remember their creator's voice.

They had responded to him.

I think that that Jesus
wanted to show his disciples who he was.

He's not just a teacher
as they referenced him.

He's the Lord of Lords and
the King of Kings, and he's the Messiah.

He's that.

He's the God of the universe.

And so it was really cool to process that.

But for me, sitting in
and what I've been trying to wrap

my head around and process is actually,
I think, lost in the story.

If you just read it quickly
and kind of breeze through,

Jesus was the one who invited
his disciples across to the other side

of the lake to find rest and retreat
and to kind of recharge.

And then they found themselves in a storm.

And I think sometimes we find ourselves
for many seasons

where, like, God, where are you?

I don't see you.

I can't fill you.
I don't understand what's going on.

And in this text, we see that
Jesus invited them into the storm.

I mean, for a number of reasons.

One, he revealed his his glory to them.

And I sometimes I think when I find myself
in a, in a weird space or a scary space,

I don't need to respond to where or on
what do you have for me?

Like,
what am I supposed to be learning here?

Or what am I supposed to be taking away?

What what is going on right now?

And how can I glorify you through it?

And so that's kind of been

been my prayer this year.

I keep coming back to this story
and processing

what it means to be available,
what it means to God, what it means

to respond to God, His Word,
and the situations that he's put me in.

And I think being available was
what happened last summer.

It was got an email from Pastor Carl,
and it's like, okay, God,

if this is what it means to be available,
sure.

Let's let's go to flipside
and let's serve students

there and walk alongside staff
and in the congregation.

All this I am super grateful.

And I hope in 2025

you can have that same prayer
of being available and being genuinely,

genuinely available so that when God calls
you ready to go, thanks.

Thank you Michael.

Very thankful for your obedience,

your availability, and your obedience
to God's call.

It's been a real blessing
to see how it continues

to be fleshed out
as you finish up your your first year.

Yeah.

So Heather bot right man

in the trenches.

Yeah.

For a long time.

What you're celebrating how many years?

Year 12 in this next year will be 13. Wow.

A season that,

thank you for not saying old

executive administrator, so.

Oh, that's such a fancy title.

I'm like, wow.

All right, you got five minutes.

They said I can pick whatever I wanted.

So my name is Heather.

Yes, I've been at flip side.

Well, we started attending flip side.

I brought my friend.

She is 19 years old,
so we've been around here for a while.

But, yeah, I'm
on my 12th year here at flip side,

and this last year I celebrated my 25th
wedding anniversary with my husband, John.

He is

so patient
to everyone, so such a good guy.

I am.

And no, I'm not married
Pastor Carl or Jeff

or Michael because everybody seems to get
that confused as well.

I'm just that very patient man.

But we also celebrated
five years in our new home.

If you have come to other,
five good minutes,

I struggle with fear and,

being changed completely,
like, to the point where

I'll just stay in something bad.

But we made the big jump
to move out here to the ranchos

because we were driving from Madeira.

Madeira and Madeira.

But we made that jump

and just celebrate five years,
and it's been such a huge blessing.

But as I prepared for today
and looked back,

I recommend that for everybody
as you go at the end of this year,

look back and just look at where
God's hand has been throughout your life.

It's really, really neat to look back

because I think we're so focused
on looking forward and what's coming next.

Retirement. That sounds great.

Or, you know, like all the things
that we have coming in, you're looking at,

but sometimes just it's good to look back
and to get to see,

where God has shown up
throughout your life.

So, as I was doing that, my theme
that I came up with was thankfulness.

So I'm just super, super thankful
this year,

for my family, my husband,
my daughter Matthew, specifically, my home

is, I'm in a season of change.

Big change that I have no control over.

But it's good stuff
because my daughter should grow up.

I would love for her to have stayed about
nine years old.

That would have been great.

Teenage years.

I could have done without junior high.

I think we both made it out. But,

you know, I.

I wish that,

sometimes things wouldn't have to change,
but these are these are good changes.

But in the midst of that change, I don't.

I'm struggling
with who I am in that change

because my one of my love
languages is acts of service,

which is why I love to run around
and put on all my sins

for you guys and do all that stuff.

But I don't get to

I don't get to serve in the same way
I don't I don't have to run around

to softball games or pick kids up anymore
or be less doing things,

which I'm thankful for,
but also I, I don't what do I do now?

So I'm finding new and different ways.

And I stepped down from serving in youth.

Not because my goal is not great. My.

But I felt like that
season had ended for me as well.

So I I'm not I'm not doing that anymore.

So just trying to find,

who I am in the midst of that.

And God has been revealing to me
through some really, really good friends,

that I'm still have a works as a mom.

It's just my,

I still have a role here at flipside.

It's just a little different.
And that's all good and.

Okay. And I'm not going to cry.
I this year is a year of no crying.

Even if I see it in my eyes.

My throat is tickling. So,

but I find it.

I found it very important this year
with who I was surrounded with,

people who have been through experiences.

I'm looking at one up front right now.

This Joanne Darcy is so great to me.

Every Sunday checks in on me,

wants to know how I'm doing, tells me
I'm doing a good job,

tells me I'm a good mom.

And that it's all going to be okay.

And she is like, yeah, that is hard.

I know, I mean, there's no resolution,
just, you know, camaraderie

and being in it.

But God has placed
those people in my life,

but I can get so busy in my life.

And like he said, we're typically
running around a more flash that goes by.

And yes, my hair is usually curly.

That was in the beginning, apparently
today that threw everybody off that.

But it's it's good to slow

down and,
to be thankful in the midst of that, I'm

so thankful for my friends and,

who got has surrounded me with,

but by the way, half of my know
got deleted when I was sitting up here.

I don't know what I did,

so our life is different from, like,

how much I'm, like, even trying to plan
Christmas this year was different.

Kids are grown and they have other people
and they have jobs and all of that.

It a couple of years ago, if I hadn't been
preparing myself to be thankful,

would have destroyed me.

But now I'm just I'm so thankful that

I have jobs
and this is what we're supposed to do.

This is how it's supposed to go.

And so the Bible verse
that I've been focusing on this year was,

first Thessalonians 516,

oh, no, sorry, 16 through 18.

It's rejoice always,
pray continually, give

thanks in
all circumstances will for you in Christ.

So, it just my encouragement

to everybody as we head into
2025 is to stay in prayer.

Stay thankful.

There is so much
for us to be thankful for.

And I think, unfortunately,
the world tries to make us believe

the opposite,
that there's so much division

and there's so much going
on in the world that there's

or we have so much to be thankful for.

And so I'm thankful for this place.

I'm thankful for this staff.

It's an amazing staff
and I think we'll be part of it.

Thanks, Heather.

Thankful for your obedience
for you and John.

You guys are a true definition
of a power couple.

Thankful for you guys and your service
for over a long period of time.

Through, change of

high school to here.

Just all the all the things you
and you and John have.

With all the questions, you
and John have stayed and been faithful.

So I'm thankful.

One of the things I was thinking about,
I'm going to practice

what I preach here for five minutes
on, I was looking in,

one of the things that stuck with
me this year is Psalm 32.

Verse eight

says, I will instruct you and teach you
in the way you should go.

I will counsel you and watch over you.

It also says, don't be like a mule
or a horse which have no understanding.

That must be controlled by bit and bridle,
or they will not,

that verse about

God saying,
I'll instruct you, I'll counsel you.

How many of you have ever sat in a class,
whether it's been in, elementary school

definitely happened in, junior high
or high school or even in college.

And the teacher says something
or some materials presented and

and you're you don't you don't get it.

You raise your
you raise your hand, you raise your hand.

How many of you ever had done that?

And the teacher goes,
put your hand down, have it.

Or worse yet,
we're not taking any questions right now.

Doesn't it seem like
life is like that sometimes?

We do have a question now we're moving on.

And I kept coming back to this this year,

where God says,

I'll teach you all, counsel you.

There's another verse
in the book of Joshua.

It says,

after three days,
the officers went throughout

the entire camp
giving orders to the people.

This is when when you see
the ark of the covenant of the Lord

your God, and the priests who are Levites

carrying you, move from your positions
and follow it.

Then you will know which way to go.

Since you have never been this way before.

God says there are places
you're going to go in 2024 and 2025.

You've never been there.

Please don't do that alone.

Please don't think that you can do that
by yourself.

God says, I'll give you the instruction.

I'll give you the counsel.

I think so many times we think, oh,
if somebody would just teach me this or,

you know, I need to go to counseling or

I need to go to therapy or whatever,
all those things are good.

But God says

I am a source of all those things.

Come to me.

I will give you that wisdom.

I will give you that teaching.

I will. I will counsel you.

This time last year, my my father in law
was in the hospital up at Stanford.

He was supposed to go in

for open heart surgery
and supposed to be out fairly quickly.

And it wasn't.

He was in for a while.

And I remember thinking,

wow, we are going to be
in the throes of this.

This is not looking like a short stint.

This is looking like a long haul.

And I remember thinking,
what are we going to do?

How do you do this?

How what what's
what's the game plan with step?

You know, one step.

And as we walked through

those months, I found myself pressing
more and more into God.

I've never been this way before.

What are we?

What are we supposed to do here?

I got a call from my daughter in April

saying, dad, we're engaged,

and, we're going to get married in July.

What do you think?

Well, the stem goes when we do stuff.

It's like, you know what?

We live by the motto.

If you waited for a perfect time to do
anything, you'd never get anything done.

And so we're like,
sure, July 5th wedding, let's do it.

And then I thought,
wow, I forgot what the San Joaquin Valley

is like in the beginning.

So we're like, yeah, let's do it.

And I found myself pressing and oh,
and then they said,

and we want you to be
the officiant of the wedding.

And I thought, all right,
what did I get myself into?

And I found myself
going back to God with the good, the bad,

and the kind of ugly or weird going,
God, I've never been this way before.

All this is new to this.

I am when it comes to music.

I've talked to Caleb about this before.

I don't mind repetition.

The girls always make fun of me.

Dad, are we going to play the whole song?

You said
you just wanted to play the bridge.

No, I like let's Do it again
for the 50th time.

I like things that are. I'm unassailable.

That if I do it and do it
and know that that I'm going

to, that I'm never going to fail at it,

I'll sign up for that
every day of the week.

Some people hate repetition, I love it,
I love it

when I was skateboarding,
I love trying that trick 75 times.

Life.

A lot of times it's not like that.
It comes at you fast and furious.

You've never done it before and

I know the end from the beginning.

Come to me, ask me.

I will counsel you.

I will guide you through this.

I will be your teacher.
I'll be your coach.

I'll be your guide.

And so that's what 2024 was all about.

And I'd like to say I'm going to try
to keep that idea going into 2020.

I'm freaking out.

You guys can

remind me it's always great when somebody
preaches a message back to you.

So thank you, staff, for sharing.

Hopefully you guys have got a glimpse,

hopefully something, that was set up here
today has connected, maybe

at a personal level or, like we said up
front, maybe at a transcendent level.

So thankful for flipside.

I'm so thankful for all of you.

We are all thing for for all of you.

If you only knew how much we talk about
you guys behind your back.

All good stuff.

Did you see

who's the guy with the the 40 niners
and football hat or the baseball hat?

And. Oh, that's so he was fantastic.

Thank God for him.

You got the congregation
and we so appreciate you.

I'm going to pray for us as I do.

I'm going to call the worship team
back up.

Do I need to worry about my chair
or are you guys good?

All right, put aside let's wrap up
2024 in prayer the way it should be.

God, thank you so much.

God. Thank you so much for, 20.

For the good, for the bad, for the, ugly
or weird things that maybe

we are still dragging into 2025,
that we just want to have it figured out.

We want it to be done.

We want to close the chapter at least,
if not the entire book on that.

Help us to remember
that you call us to be faithful,

trust you.

As we go back out into the places
you've called us to be.

The office,

the the ball field, the classroom,
wherever it is we land.

God, we pray that we will take, what
was spoken up here today and your word.

And suck it deep into our hearts.

Where it's very,

very difficult
to do what we talked about here today.

Help us to just call our minds
back to this place

right now
and and remember that you are good.

You can be trusted.

You are our counselor.
You are our teacher.

And in all of that Jesus, we thank you.

And we ask these things in your name.